At the European Political Community meeting in Copenhagen, Hungary's leader accused the EU of preparing "war plans" and rejected calls for Ukraine's EU membership, saying that a strategic partnership is needed instead.
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán launched a new scathing attack against the majority of EU leaders over the plans to counter Russian incursions into member states’ airspaces, as discussed at the EU summit in Copenhagen on Wednesday.
On his arrival at the European Political Community gathering in Copenhagen on Thursday, Orbán announced that “the EU has decided to go to war” and that at Wednesday’s informal EU summit, they presented their war strategy on how to defeat the Russians, which he labelled as “horrifying”.
He referred to the EU leaders’ decision to give "broad support" to proposals to ramp up the development of drone and anti-drone technology and to use immobilised Russian assets to loan money to Ukraine.
"Leaders broadly supported initial priority flagship projects that will strengthen Europe's security, including the European drone wall and the Eastern Flank Watch," European Council President Antonio Costa told reporters at the end of the informal gathering in the Danish capital.
According to Orbán, this direction is detrimental to Hungary and the entire European Union. The prime minister announced that the governing party will launch a petition against what he called "the EU's war plans."
"The pressure is great. So I will suggest to the Fidesz presidency that we start a signature campaign in Hungary against the EU's war plans. Because we need all our strength to stay out of this war," Orbán said.
Orban says 'the Costa plan is dead'
The Hungarian prime minister also discussed how he rejected the idea floated at the summit to amend the EU's enlargement rules to facilitate Ukraine's accession talks.
The so-called Costa plan suggested lifting the unanimity required for the opening of each negotiating chapter.
Changing the rules also requires unanimity, and Hungary will veto Ukraine’s EU accession, according to Orbán.
"I told them, I do not agree, so this plan is dead," Orbán said.
The Hungarian premier also repeated his position that, instead of a full EU membership, Ukraine should get a strategic partnership with the EU, which he called “a better idea”. The full membership would mean, in his view, that "the war would enter the European Union."
Orbán has been opposing Ukraine's membership and the financial support for Ukraine for years, blocking many supporting decisions in Brussels, while relenting to EU pressure and agreeing to the multiple EU sanctions packages against Russia.
The Hungarian government conducted an anti-Ukraine campaign earlier this year, featuring billboards that portrayed Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside opposition leader Péter Magyar.
The government also launched a poll on Ukraine's EU bid, in which, according to the government, 95% of respondents were against Ukraine joining the 27-member bloc.
Budapest mayor calls Orbán's anti-Ukraine campaign in Hungary 'shameful'
Meanwhile, Budapest's green party mayor and top Orban opponent, Gergely Karácsony, told Euronews on Wednesday that Ukraine's EU accession is a clear national interest of Hungary.
Karácsony said government propaganda has turned against Ukraine and its EU ambitions because “they ran out of imaginary enemies”.
It would be in Hungary's national interest to support Ukraine's accession to the EU, even if reconstruction would take vast amounts of money from the EU budget, the mayor told Euronews.
"The Transcarpathian Hungarians are unanimous in their demand that the Hungarian government should support Ukraine's EU membership," Karácsony said.
"This is a huge opportunity for the European economy, because the EU could expand with a member state that represents a large market and great resources."
"But unfortunately, we are not there yet. Obviously, we have to get to the end of the war, to the ceasefire," he pointed out.
"And membership of the European Union is not tomorrow, but I believe that Hungary's support for Ukraine's accession is in our overriding national interest. I don't see any argument against that," Karácsony concluded.